Out the Creeps in Online Dating

NYT: As facial recognition software proliferates, some developers are bound to test our comfort level with the notion of strangers seeking to put a name to our faces whether we’re online or on the street.

Take CreepShield, a nascent site that claims to make online dating safer — by offering to determine how closely head shots on dating profiles resemble those of sex offenders.

“Photos from popular dating sites such as Match.com, eHarmony, PlentyOfFish and OkCupid can be used,” the news release for CreepShield said.

The company invites users to enter a link to an image into a search field on its site, which then uses facial identification technology to compare the face in the photo against its “constantly updated database of 475,000-plus registered sex offenders.”